Harmison's timely reminder

Hell hath no fury like a fast bowler scorned. Steve Harmison, rejected by England for the Cardiff Test, turned in an inspired bowling performance on the second morning as he ripped through Yorkshire to take 5 for 60. Yet Yorkshire's fighting spirit came to the fore in the afternoon, as Andrew Gale and the allrounders came to the rescue of the home county so that they finished the day with a clear advantage once again.

Yorkshire began the day on a promising 64 for 1. Anthony McGrath edged the first ball of the day, from Mitchell Claydon, through the slips for four, which some may have taken as an omen that the luck would continue to favour Yorkshire.

Then came the revenge of the brooding big fast bowler as Harmison, hell bent on regaining his Test place, came roaring in from the Kirkstall Lane end. In his first over he produced a superb delivery that turned McGrath around and flew off the bat, to be well caught by Kyle Coetzer low to his left at third slip. The pitch, like that at Cardiff, offered little to the pacemen on the first day, but this was one of those occasions when a great bowler can create havoc on a featherbed. Joe Sayers and Adam Lyth struggled for their lives. Sayers (37) was next to go, fending off a ball to short leg, and Lyth, softened up, edged a catch to the keeper.

Perhaps at this point Harmison was kept on a little too long, when a few overs' break might have been more beneficial: he was still hostile, but lost his line to an extent and often did not force the batsmen to play. After an hour, he was rested after figures for the morning of 7-2-7-3. Possibly it was the release of pressure that persuaded Jonny Bairstow to go for a half-hearted drive outside off stump to his replacement, Mark Davies, only to edge a catch into the gully. By now Yorkshire were 93 for 5 and in trouble.

But now Yorkshire began to fight back with traditional county spirit. Harmison returned just before lunch, but Tim Bresnan drove him powerfully through the covers for four, to indicate that the Durham man was no longer the irresistible force.. Bresnan it was who led the attack to swing the balance of the match again, supported by Andrew Gale who played an admirable anchor role at the other end.

Harmison did continue to bowl well, but was no longer able to sweep all before him. He accounted for Bresnan for 36, Coetzer picking up his second fine slip catch of the day, but in Adil Rashid Yorkshire found another doughty fighter. He ran up 32 off 43 balls, including at one stage ten runs off three successive balls from Claydon, before being adjudged lbw by Ian Blackwell. Rana Naved slogged his first ball from Blackwell mightily to the boundary and then lofted him for a huge six over long-on in his breezy 22, before swatting a soft catch to midwicket when Harmison took the second new ball; Yorkshire 229 for 8.

All this time Gale was still there, battling it out with marvellous concentration, and finally a pull to the fine-leg boundary brought him his 50 off 167 balls. Whatever Yorkshire's fragilities this season, they do have an excellent lower order, and Ajmal Shahzad made nonsense of his position at number 10 as he settled in for another significant stand with Gale for the ninth wicket. He outdid Rana by planting Blackwell for two superb straight sixes, between which Gale nudged a ball through the slips for four to bring up 300. He looked likely to reach a century, given continued support from his partners, but on 84 he drove rather loosely at Blackwell and was bowled. Matthew Hoggard was no match for Blackwell, and the innings closed for 313, leaving Shahzad stranded with his best career score of 41.

Durham had to bat again 135 runs in arrears, a rare experience in the last couple of years. The Durham openers were clearly intent on taking charge, and as the Yorkshire seamers gave them no trouble, Rashid was brought on for the fifth over. It proved an excellent move, as he first restrained the scoring and then bowled Mark Stoneman for 12 as he tried to break the shackles with an ambitious drive.

It was Harmison's morning, but it was Yorkshire's day. However, given their dismal record in recent years of trying to bowl the opposition out twice, and the fact that Durham are not title champions for nothing, there may well be a lot of thrilling cricket left in this match. Watch this space.